


The foundation must be built

by Keenir



Series: The Multiverse [2]
Category: Man of Steel (2013), The Avengers (2012)
Genre: ...in Chapter 4, Crossover, Gen, POV Hulk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-14
Updated: 2013-09-15
Packaged: 2017-12-20 03:21:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/882345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keenir/pseuds/Keenir
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As far as the relationship of the Kryptonians to Earth goes,  the Chitari Invasion was a good thing.<br/>AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue:  what changed

**Author's Note:**

> "A foundation has to be built on something. Even your father understood this." -General Zod to Clark Kent.

Not about to give in without a fight, Nathan pulled a knife out and held it out, pointing it at her. _Doesn't matter how fast she is, I'm going to go down swinging. Though swinging may be the extent of it, or would be if I didn't have my back still in a helicopter._

In response, Faora drew her own blade and said, "A good death, is its own reward," as she approached.

_Okay, now you're just mocking us,_ Nathan Hardy thought, seeing how deliberately slowly - patiently - the Kryptonian woman was coming towards him. And that was when there was a beeping on the comms.

Subcommander Faora-Ul paused, watching Colonel Hardy to see what he was doing.

"This is Hardy," he said. "Aliens? Sir, we're kind of - Different aliens? New York?"

Faora leaped backwards, narrowly dodging the speeding bullet of an oncoming Clark, who sped by.

When she returned to her prior standoff position, this time with the taller Kryptonian by her side, she found Clark standing by Hardy.

"Hang on," Hardy told her. "As I was just saying to him, I've been empowered to offer a truce, a cease-fire if you'd prefer," Hardy told the three of them. "You want to help us get these things out of New York?"

With a tic of her jaw, Faora reached out on her comm system to the phantom drive ship, and spoke in a language neither Clark nor Hardy knew. When an answer had come to her, she switched to English and told the two of them, "We accept." _The world engine will sleep for a while longer. We will send these interveners scurrying away._ "These aliens are new to us. Floating snakes. Speeding handlecraft." In a good smile, Faora said, "General Zod welcomes your assistance."

"Its a go," Hardy said into his comms. _Though God knows how long this'll last._

"We shall," Faora said as her landing craft came to rest behind her, the stairs pinching flat one end of a tipped-over car. To Clark, "Will you fly to the coast, or join us?" 

"'Join' in the sense of fighting against a common enemy," Clark said. "Coming, Colonel?" 

"Just try and keep me away," Hardy said. "Besides, you guys kinda do owe us a ride." 

_Us?_ Faora wondered until Hardy turned his head, whistled, and a dozen uniformed officers came running over. 

_"Think you can keep from playing with the air conditioner long enough for us to get there?" Clark asked Faora as the soldiers came inside and, following Colonel Hardy's example, got a good grip on the walls._

Her reply was in Kryptonian, a command for the stairs to retract, and for the craft to rise; also in that language, she called for 'low flight' - not so high the air thinned, not so fast the passengers would tumble - but not for the doors to close. 

**~~~**

**In New York,** Loki looked at the alien craft, both the landing pods and the ships, and there, in geostationary orbit, right at the edge of his vision, was something far vaster. _Mmm, perhaps not the best timing. But then, nobody asked me for my opinion, only demanded my service, leaving me no more say in the matter than was for Hawkeye or Selvig._

His orders had been to make sure the Hulk and Thor and Iron Man and Captain America and Black Widow and Hawkeye were all in the city and ready to become the Avengers _before_ the gateway was opened any further. _But if I wait that long, these ships will make short work of the Chitari, leaving only crumbs for Earth's own heroes._

Loki made a decision, and carried it out; its repercussions echoing down into the battle. 


	2. All against all

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Three sides (four if you count Loki). Each side fighting two others. What could go wrong?

They made great speed to New York. As they neared it, one of the floating devices came over, _an attack droid, Lois called it,_ Clark recalled, and didn't recall his biological father or any of the other Kryptonians saying what the name was for those things. 

Finally changing from a display of the rooftop structure shooting a steady stream of some manner of energy into a portal in space, the droid's flat surface swirled with those little cooperating spheres and resolved into a picture: a man holding a structure in his hand, and that hand was raised up to the sky, where the structure was being struck by a continuous burst of - "Lightning," Faora said, reading the words laced below and alongside the moving image. "Minutes ago. The electrically-charged man then ** and flew to the village your maps identify as 'new york.'"

"Village?" one of the US soldiers repeated. "You're kidding, right?"

"Back up a little before that," Hardy said. "What was the word you used right before you said 'and flew'?"

Faora repeated the word: "**."

"Well that's about as handy as a snake. What's it mean?"

"It is an all-purpose word. For when an unfamiliar mechanism is used to achieve a known mode of travel. In this case, the mechanism is the same structure which gathered the lightning," she said.

"Could it be the structure that's allowing him to fly?" Clark asked.

"It...is possible."

"Could the device be Kryptonian?"

She did not answer.

"That's a yes, then?" Hardy asked her.

"I have no information," Faora replied. "It may be nonKryptonian. It may predate the world engines. It may be a thing in development at the time of the Deaths."

"Deaths?"

When Faora was silent, Clark said "Krypton was destroyed. The Subcommander and her unit were among the last survivors."

She looked into his eyes, and Clark wasn't sure if he was seeing gratitude or hatred or something uniquely Kryptonian.

"Could your General Zod know?" Hardy asked.

"No," she said.

"You sound sure."

"Where machines are concerned, I know all that General Zod knows." Noting a changing of the droid's image platform, Faora nodded at it, and the screen altered to show that same lightning-catching man now zooming through the air. "This is occuring currently," as the craft turned on its axis, bringing the image's subject into live view out ahead of them: Thor flying through the sky, a spinning blur of motion in one hand.

Looking from Faora to Clark, Hardy asked,

"You guys can't do that, can you?"

"Not entirely," Clark said, glancing over at Faora. _I can fly, but I...realllly don't think I could do the rest of that._

"That is not a Kryptonian," she said, staring at Thor.

"That means..." Hardy said, and before he could finish his second word -

Clark nodded, and leaped out from the ship, speeding at Thor and slamming into him. Together, they crashed through a penthouse and came to a stop on that roof's garden.

"Who are you?" Thor demanded as they rose, not seeming any the worse for wear after that crash.

"I'm -" and stopped himself. "They call me Superman."

"Well, super man, I am Thor. And your plans shall not succeed."

"Sure they will," Clark said. _We're going to stop this invasion._

Thor smiled as though he'd heard a joke.

"Something funny?" Clark asked.

In answer, Thor swung his hammer down at -

-at where Superman had been a second ago.

 _All those times I had to put up with 'up high, down low, too slow' as a kid, finally gets put to some use,_ Clark thought with no small enjoyment. "Was that the punchline?" he asked Thor, standing behind him and moving close enough to grab Thor by the waist and throw him up into the sky. Clark leaped after him -

...and was knocked back into another roof by the lightning Thor summoned to his Hammer.

 _Note to self: don't forget about the lightning,_ Clark thought as Thor landed on the roof with all the ease of someone jumping rope.

"You cannot win," Thor informed him.

Extricating himself from the roof, Clark stood up. "Takes more than a little bad weather to stop me." _I'm from Kansas, after all._

That amused grin again. "Is that so?"

"That's so. Question."

"What?"

Judging distances in each of several possible angles, Clark ran right into Thor, running them both several meters off the building, and Clark flew off to a few rooftops' distance.

Thor never hit the ground.

Instead, a small hurricane formed around Thor, and the pair of them - cyclonic winds and Thor - roared towards Superman. "What was your question, little man?" Thor roared up at him.

**~~**

 _Okay,_ Stark thought to himself. _That's new too._

"Shall I do a good news/bad news analysis, sir?" Jarvis asked.

"Thanks, but I'm game for it," Tony said. "Just let me know if I miss anything."

"Of course, sir."

"Okay, good news, loads of Chitauri are getting whomped by Thor and the new guy fighting. Bad news, Thor's hammer would really be useful in dealing with those snakewhales." _So far, there's only three in the city, but since when are there ever just three of anything?_

"That sums it up, sir," Jarvis said. "Sir, there is a craft approaching. Matching silhouette to that of the Kryptonians."

"Kryptonians?" Tony asked.

"You were otherwise engaged, sir. Within the Mark Seven I have studied transmissions and craft designs pertaining to their recent arrival in orbit and landing," rotating the Iron Man so he faced the craft on approach, one massive door lowered and troops visible inside.

"Landing? Oh come on, really, Jarvis, more aliens?"

"It would seem so, sir," as a very tall one completely encased in protective armor leaped out from a loading bay or ladder or whatever it was, Tony wasn't sure.

"Oh look, a mini me," Tony said, as the not-so-mini Kryptonian landed on him, tackling him. "Or a darth me. Jarvis, remember those dance moves?"

In answer, Jarvis turned the suit's speakers - internal and external - on very loud, and Tony began to spin in the air, rising and diving, swirling every which way.

**~~**

"All independently-airborne entities have been removed from our path," Faora said as the craft came in closer to Stark Tower.

Before they could rise up to the level of the roof where the energy was steadily firing into the sky, a concentrated blast of power blasted out from the level of the outdoor walkway, immediately above the large letters. Nathan reacted before thinking, grabbing Faora's shoulder with both hands and trying to shove the pair of them to the floor or to a wall; and only managed to shift her shoulder out of the way because it wasn't expected. The blast therefore missed her narrowly, and struck the ceiling of the craft's innards, whereupon the craft began a war to seal the blast energy up.

She fixed him with a look that he was pretty sure passed for a frown on Krypton. So he told her "You're really hard to pull out of the line of fire, you know that?"

"Why would you do that?" she asked him.

Hardy opened his mouth, then closed it and shook his head, then told her, "I'm going to answer that some time when we're not in a firefight, okay?"

"That requires your survival. This craft will take you and your soldiers to the roof to deal with the energy beam."

"And what're you going to do while we're up there?" Hardy asked, though a gut feeling gave him a hunch.

"He attempted to kill me. He will not try again," Faora said, bounding out and onto the Tower's external walkway.

"Okay, men, lets do this!" Hardy said to his officers as the ship rose to the roof.

Loki watched as the bizarre little human-appearing creature repeatedly dodged his firing attacks with the staff, or the glowstick-of-destiny as some termed it. It was immaterial how many Chitauri died with every missed shot Loki made - _their own masters do not care for them, so why should I?_ He watched as she came in through the same entrance Stark had - though Stark had then proceeded to walk down a ramp and around to a bar - this woman half-stepped and half-leaped up to the stone railing and stepped down from there onto the bar-top, and from there to the floor. _You and Sif would get along famously,_ was the opinion Loki held.

"I am Subcommander Faora-Ul. Name yourself!" she ordered him.

That trickster smile. "Certainly. I am Loki of Asgard. And now," he said once they had approached one another closely enough, "now you work for me."

"That is an impossibility," she replied.

Loki reached out and touched Faora's clavicle with the metal tip, the same part to the same place as he had done with Stark. The difference this time was that her uniform _twitched_ in response.

'Should've checked the warranty, maybe?' Stark would have asked.

She grabbed Loki's glowstick-of-destiny by the shaft just behind the blade, and swung hard enough to dislodge Loki's grip from it, him tumbling a few meters - far enough to watch her slam the staff into a wall, splitting it in two.

As the green light dimmed, "How did you do that?" Loki asked. _I doubt even Thor could have done that. Maybe Thor could have._

Recalling one of Colonel Hardy's jokes that seemed more comprehensible to Kal El and the human soldiers than to she or her fellows, Faora quoted "Gonna let you in on a little secret. I am not from around here."

As she lifted him up, Loki said "You would do well to release me."

"I have no reason to," she said.

"I am a god."

"I evolved from gods." _So said the historians._

Loki blinked. _Well, at least that's a novel claim._ "Then how may I be of service?" spreading his hands out.

"You may -" she started to say, only to be blasted back by a large shock of green magical energy.

Free now from her grip, Loki smoothed his clothes and smiled. "Its always been true - evolution has no direction," he said. Noting that something was frizzing in the air immediately around the woman's head, "Trouble?" he asked.

Eyes burning, skin stinging, mind groggy, ears ringing, Faora did her best to calculate where her craft was, and she bolted - zipping herself and Loki (grabbing him again as she ran through) out through the window and into the craft, door safely closing behind them. As a proper atmosphere returned, dropping Loki on the floor like any discarded thing might be, Faora ripped off the now-faulty pseudomaterial helmet and took deep gasping breaths until a sense of normalcy returned, and her body functioned as it had before.

Her body, that is.

Loki was prostrate on the floor still, but he was making noises that Faora was familiar with from both Kryptonians and humans - it meant they were struggling and fighting to restrain something, to overcome a process. "Trouble?" she asked, repeating his earlier words back at him.

He was silent, though something was clearly happening.

she looked at the droids, whose surfaces informed her that Loki was undergoing a process of rapid shedding, re-absorption, and auto-repairing. She waited - it would cost nothing to let him regain a semblance of capability before she continued. 

What she did not expect was when rings of frost began to form, spreading outward from Loki's position. "I know not how you have done this," he told her, his voice thick and heavy with anger and something **else** , "but know that it will be the last thing you have done."

Setting her uniform on standby in case another pseudomaterial helmet was needed, Faora smiled. "That has yet to happen."

Loki stood, slightly taller than he had been. His uniform and his clothes were dusted with frost. "And it shall," said an angered mouth framed on a singularly blue face.

 _His eyes are as red as Kal El's when the lost Kryptonian fires beams from his._ "A good death is its own reward."

"Then you shall be properly rewarded indeed," Loki remarked. And he shut his eyes and roared as he turned around and ripped apart the door.

...partially ripped it apart, anyway, as Faora tackled him while he was distracted with doing that. This sent the both of them falling out of the craft and towards the ground.

Pseudomaterial helmet already slipping swiftly into much-needed place, she used him as a springboard to shove off against, sending herself out to the side of the Tower, which she then leaped off from that, on and on - crushing Chitauri all as she went.

 _Yes, Sif would definately approve,_ was Loki's thought as he continued to fall. Illusion was no help in a battle against gravity.

Before he had passed the fourth floor windows, Loki was plucked from his plummetting by none other than Thor. "This must be brief, brother," Thor said as they alit alongside a arm-sized spire atop a pyramidal roof atop a hotel. Plucking Loki's helmet from his head, Thor used its horns to bind Loki in place. "I will return, brother," Thor said, and spun his Hammer and was about to set off again into the sky to rejoin battle against Superman.

Loki shook his head. _A lightning rod, Thor? Out of all the places you believe I cannot escape from?_ "A word," Loki said.

Thor paused, slowing his Hammer. "Yes?"

"If you saw me fall, then you perhaps saw I had been in one of the ships of these others."

A nod from Thor.

"Their air is a near match to that of Jotunheim."

Thor digested that news, then said "Thank you, brother, I knew you were still in there," patting Loki's arm. And, spinning his Hammer once more, departed.

_You'll be back,_ as he began to craft illusions to lure Chitauri to fire on and ram one another.

**~~**


	3. Truce for now

As he left Loki clinging there, Thor watched as the Super Man tore through a flanking position of Chitauri like so much idlepaper, and Thor thought: _And they turn on their allies? Or do they think ridding this world of the Chitauri will establish their claim upon it?_ He swooped down at the Super Man, smashing aside any interfering Chitauri like the bugs they were. He paid no mind to the fact that, as his brother had fallen from that vessel, Loki had initially been blue, only to return to normalcy as he continued to fall; Thor chalked it up to something on that vessel or something which had been done to his brother on board that vessel. Complex analysis and permutations of possibilities and such on the battlefield were more Hogun's expertise than his own.

Thor flew through the air towards Superman, who saw him approaching.

Thor swung down his Hammer -

\- and Clark gripped the Hammer's sides as it came down, and rotated himself - and by extension Thor who was holding the Hammer too - around fast enough to let go, sending Thor skipping across Chitauri like a stone across a lake.

That done, Clark went to see how many of the other hoverbiking aliens he could get rid of before their hammer-holding friend came back. That was until he found himself with a giant flying snake coming towards him on one side, and Thor approaching from the other side.

**~~**

Having just rejoined the others, Bruce got off the motorscooter and looked up. Watching as Thor and the other flying guy went around and around a snakewhale that was bearing the brunt of the airborne game, Bruce saw what had to be lasers coming out of the guy's head, chopping a whopping slice into the snakewhale. _Do Not Even Consider It,_ the Other Guy informed Bruce.

 _What? I was looking,_ Bruce replied as Thor bounded up and onto one half of the snakewhale, which was enough to rip the remaining connective tissue away from the other half of the beast. _That's all,_ as gravity and forward momentum colluded to collide the two halves into the next available building.

"Any idea where these new guys are from?" Steve asked. _That one guy's definately faster than Thor, and they're evenly matched in strength by the looks of it,_ and knew the Hammer couldn't be stopped.

"According to the night watchman who loaned me these jeans, they're aliens."

"Of course," Natasha quipped. "What else would they be?"

"Coming here in a spaceship to ask for someone named Kal El," Banner said.

"Great," Clint muttered. "Now we have to deal with Loki, Loki's army, and these other aliens."

"Could be worse," Steve said.

"Gonna pretend you didn't say that."

"There could be Hydra soldiers or Nazis."

Banner nodded. "Yeah, I wouldn't like them showing up while we're dealing with all this." He looked up, and estimated the distances involved as best he could.

"Uh, doc," Steve said, "think now might be a good time for you to get angry?"

Bruce gave a smile that was bigger than it had a right to be. "That's my secret, Captain. I'm always angry. See you guys soonish," and proceeded to shift over into the Hulk, who bounded several stories up before ricocheting himself towards a squad of Chitauri hoverbiking through midair.

Very very shortly after Bruce left, Faora arrived, flattening half a car with the force of her landing...and then stepped off it like it was nothing of consequence. Also didn't really react to Hawkeye turning his arrows in her direction.

"Who're you?" Hawkeye asked. _And did she seriously just leap tall building sides in a s- okay, not a single bound. That'd be silly._

"Subcommander Faora-Ul," she said.

Remembering a figure of speech when he had been stationed overseas, Steve asked "And what's that when its at home?"

"Subcommander Faora-Ul."

"Just proves I was right," Black Widow told Hawkeye.

"Seriously, you want to bring that up _now_?" he asked her.

"Something I should know about?" Steve asked.

Hawkeye and Black Widow both said "Budapest."

"If you've come to give yourself up," Steve told Faora, "we accept."

Faora considered the situation from the ground, much as she had considered when she was aiming for here. She considered them: _Rapid movement would be hindered by the damaged vehicles. Crushing is an option, as is killing them._ "You throw yourself into a battle you cannot hope to win."

"I don't see it that way," Black Widow said.

"Then your vision is faulty," Faora said.

Hawkeye snorted.

"Surrender, and I will permit you to enter human custody, rather than remain in my own." _If they are unlikely to accept, then it costs nothing to present the offer so they shame themselves with refusal to recognize reality._

"We are humans, genius," Hawkeye said.

Steve made a 'more or less' noise while, somewhere in the rooftop level of the city, the Hulk was attacking Thor alongside Superman.

"Then have your fliers cease their operations," Faora said.

"Ours? They're yours."

"We would not use such primitive devices," Faora said.

 _Could it really be that simple?_ Steve wondered. "Since I don't think any of us here can prove we're are or aren't working with the Chitauri - that's the guys with the funny guns and flying chariots - how about this: we work together to get rid of the Chitauri, and then we see what happens?"

"Sounds reasonable to me," Black Widow said.

Faora was saying something none of them could understand, but then she switched to English: "My subordinates have been instructed with the new policy. _We will destroy you next._

"Good to h-" Hawkeye started to say, but his 'hear' was stopped by Faora's rush towards him in a blur until she stopped right in front of him, already with his bow elevated to point well above her head.

Black Widow was already working out in her mind what moves she could use against someone that fast. What she said was to Hawkeye: "Guess you're not as young as you used to be."

"Ha ha."

Steve tapped his earpiece. "Stark, you hear all that?"

**~~**

Up above and a fair bit over, Tony said, "Loud and clear. Gimme a minute."

Taking the opportunity to fling his dancing partner at the guy shooting lasers out of his eyes - _there goes a perfectly good figure of speech,_ Tony rued - at the Hulk, Stark made an observation: "Uh, Jarvis, does Dr. Banner look bigger to you than he usually does when he lets Mr. Green take over?" having seen, during the faux dance, the Hulk bound at Superman, get in the way of those lasers and knocked back into a wall - and then jump back out, nary a scratch, roaring the usual incoherence at the same guy.

"He is, sir. While not at a considerable rate, it is still...progressing, sir. But no longer, now that he is not being subjected to the alien laser beams."

To Steve over comms, Tony said, "Not entirely sure if Thor and the big guy heard and they're just playing with him now, or if their comms went down in the fight. I'll get them and meet you guys over at my roof."

And as Iron Man approached where Thor and the Hulk were playing with the skinny armor-suited alien guy who _seems to hit Reset every few minutes for a full recharge,_ Tony observed, the aforementioned skinny guy shifted in mid-air, having been thrown by the Hulk at Thor, and used Thor's shoulders as a launching board to head to the nearest skyscraper-side, which he leaped and leaped ( _kinda like the Hulk, actually_ ) on his way to - "He's heading for Stark Towers," Tony said into comms and to Thor and Hulk.

"Yeah, you did say we should all meet there," Steve reminded him.

"Right. Okay. Heading over there we go."

Superman swerved and intercepted them, essentially hovering right in front of Stark and Thor. "Going somewhere?"

"Matter of fact, yeah," Tony said. "Your friend called a truce, so we're going to work together to get rid of the evil aliens; then, eh, see where we are."

Superman and Thor looked at each other, neither backing down.

"Oh for the... You're both great, okay? Can we go now?" Stark asked. "Look, if we don't get moving, Mr. Hulk here's going to get antsy, and he might flatten you both, so hut hut hut," figuring that Steve's idioms got the job done, and that was what they said in Steve's day after all, right?

After a bit more unwaveringness, "I will retrieve my brother," Thor said and swooped down for Loki.

"Meet you there," Tony said. To the other two, "Okay, lets go."

**~~**

"Okay, so the plan of the hour is," Tony said, "that we are gonna get rid of the Chitauri and their nasty snake-whale things and hover-bikes I might take a gander at later. And to do that, we need to get inside the Cube's protective sphere and turn the whole thing off. That _should_ \- and when I used the word in caution, worry - should let us shut the wormhole up above us and turn the rest of the day into mopping up stragglers."

"Simple," Faora said. She had summoned her craft to return to her, and Hawkeye and their group had flown up in it with her to the roof, where they met with Hardy and the soldiers.

"Thank you. Not many readily appreciate my genius."

"Because it is not."

Hulk guffawed. Steve chuckled. Superman smiled. Black Widow mouthed 'told you.'

"Then what is it?" Stark asked her.

Faora's reply was, "Obvious."

"Nobody said it couldn't be both."

Thor and Loki then arrived, with Thor setting Loki down on the ground of the roof, but keeping one protective hand on Loki to stay any attempts on his life at this juncture. "We have a problem," Thor said.

"Besides him?" Barton asked, glaring at Loki, who cracked his own neck.

"He has broke free of Chitauri control," Thor said.

"You were such a fine example," Loki told Clint Barton.

"Can I at least shoot him in the leg? Foot?" Clint asked.

"What's the problem?" Steve asked.

"Selvig was crafty in shaping the sphere to permit the scepter to enter it after activation," Loki said. "But now that requires a thing which no longer works."

"Quit the fifty-words-or-less," Tony said. "Try ten or less."

"The scepter. Smashed in twain. By her," and pointed his head at Faora.

Tony looked from one to the other. "Aw c'mon, she broke it?" _Universe-crossing alien tech...gets junked in a fight?_

"Every structure in the universe has tensile limits. Surely not a man who designed his own home is ignorant of this."

Tony grumbled a "Fine, fine."

 _Okay, so we've got a plan._ "You think you're ready for this, wonder woman?" Hardy asked her.

Faora gave him a blank look.

"That was a great show," Stark said.

"Hell yeah," Hardy said. "Got a little silly towards the end."

"Eh, what can you do - that's what happens to most series."

"If we can return to the plan," Superman suggested.

"Sure thing, Muscles," Tony said. "No, wait, you'd be Muscles II. Actua- Know what, nevermind. We've already established that the glow-stick of destiny was the only way to get inside that energy sphere."

"And if we can't turn it off, we do the next best thing," Hardy said.

Superman nodded. Faora made an equivalent gesture.

Stark kenned their meaning a second later. "So if we can't turn it off, and we can't pick up the thing and throw it in the big gaping hole in the sky, we tear off the roof and throw the whole kitten kaboodle in."

"Yup," Hardy said.

"Wow. Good thing I know the owner. Otherwise he'd be pissed. I'm the owner, by the way. It used to say 'Stark' on the side."

"You're that Stark?"

"Yes I'm that - Exactly how many Tony Starks did you think there were who said they are Iron Man."

Hardy shrugged.

Into his helmet, Tony said, "Jarvis, burn time. The entire top three floors. Wipe, foam, scrub, melt, everything you can think of." _If I have to kick my ball into the neighbor's yard, I'm gonna be damn sure they can't play with it._

"At once, sir," Jarvis said. 

Once everyone got into their place on the sides of the outside wall beneath Cube and sphere, all involved braced themselves and began to push. With the building only beginning to crack and break in the needed direction, Faora looked said something in her comms, giving a direction to the taller Kryptonian, then she said to Loki, taunting him, "How angry can you get?"

"More than you would care to see," Loki snapped at her. "So do not attempt it."

"Yeah, no, its catchier when Banner says it," Tony said. "Its the whole 'don't make me angry, you wouldn't like me when I'm angry.'"

Something flickered in the Hulk's face long enough for, "I _am_ right here, guys," Bruce said.

"I know. I was just saying, you don't waste time with it, you just lay it all on the line."

"Why're you getting an atmosphere mask for someone who hasn't needed it at all, that I've seen?" Clark asked Faora as the tall Kryptonian brought it down, then assumed the lifting position not far from her without handing her the mask.

"This one is as curious as you are, Kal-El," Faora said, still speaking of Loki.

"Have a care how you speak of my brother," Thor warned her.

"Any time now, guys," Hardy hollered over.

"And pushhhh!" Steve shouted. _If Loki weren't here, I'd probably feel like the 99 lb. weakling on the team. Again; just like most of my life._

And the skinny armored guy made a sudden shift in Loki's direction, arm swiping to force the breathing mask on Loki - and nearly fell off the Stark Tower, as he'd gone right through Loki.

Thor laughed heartily as Loki revealed his presence closer to Thor.

Jarvis said, "Sir, if I may suggest."

"Please do," and switched Jarvis to external speakers.

"Subcommander Ul, what is the output of the device titled 'world engine'?" Jarvis asked.

"Terraforming," Faora answered.

"A little on the suspicious side of vague," Tony said, then snapped his fingers. "Okay, everybody back on the roof." Once most of them had done it and while they waited for the others, "Can you do that laser thing again - not right now, but when we need to?" he asked Superman, who nodded. "How 'bout you?" he asked Faora.

"No," she said.

"I will," Loki said, stepping forward, to which Hawkeye grabbed an arrow and was ready.

"You are certain, brother?" Thor asked.

"The Chitauri and their lord will pay for what they have done to me," Loki said.

Thor grinned - like a loon, in Clint's opinion - and patted his brother on the back. "Like the mountain we broke in Alfheim, eh?"

"Rather."

'The mountain we broke'?? Steve started to better understand that comment about 'these guys are like gods.'

"We are gonna have to fix soo many roofs," Tony muttered. More cheerfully, "Ah, just like the good old days."

Superman landed on the other side of the group, eyeing Thor warily, like he expected a resumption of battle at any time. "How shall we attack, Stark?" Thor asked.

"All at once. We just need to throw a little something at it first," Tony said, and switched channels: "Banner, you there?"

"Should my ears be burning now?" Bruce asked.

"Like you're bathing in five-alarm chili. Which is actually not as bad as it sounds." _And why are you - wait, if_ you _answered..._ "Hang on, coming to pry you off my wall."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time:  
> “What’re you going to do?” Stark asked. “Fly it into the sun?”  
> “Actually, that is better than the plan I had,” Superman said.  
> "Hello, that was sarcastic. I do it well. And often."


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bruce's POV on the resolution to the problem.
> 
> (and a 3rd Person epilogue)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lt. Farris was the one in Man of Steel who asked what would become of us if the Earth was being terraformed, and she was the one who smiled in the scene where Clark said "I know you're trying to find out where I hang my cape; don't."

**NOW:**

Why do I agree to these things?

_Martyr complex._

That's not true. Entirely.

_Right. Blame me. Just when we had made progress on that score._

As I plummet to through the air, bracing myself for the ohgodthisisgoingtohurtsomuch of landing on an active forcefield - _welcome to my world_ \- the Other Guy reminds me that this may not have been my idea, but I was certainly party to it:

**~~~**  
 **A MINUTE AGO:**

Everyone else is making a retreat from Stark Tower while the landlord is personally peeling me off the wall I'm clinging to for dear life, and Tony and Jarvis are filling me in on the plan...or part of it. Between the two of me, the omitted sections are easy enough for us to silently fill in. When Tony and Jarvis fall silent, rocketing the - three? two? four? - of us upwards, I ask "And what makes you think he'd agree to your plan, particularly with as vaguely as you've described it?"

Tony says, "Because I speak from deep deep personal experience when I tell you that we all see ourselves as the hero of our own personal narratives."

Uh, yeah, about that...the Other Guy doesn't really care about that sort of thing, Tony. "And we create our own demons."

"That's good. 'We create our own demons' - I'm definately using that at some point. Huh, and now two famous people've said it."

"Not so much."

"Right. Three famous people; my bad. Sorry, big guy."

Never mind.

"I still think there has to be a better way than this," says the flying guy who the Kryptonians are calling 'kal el' and the soldiers are calling 'superman.'

"Like what?" Iron Man asks. "Short of flying it into the sun, and even that -"

"Actually, that was my idea," he says.

"Huh. Tell you what, next time this happens, we'll do it your way," Tony says, and I can just picture the superman ready to ask 'what do you mean, next time?' so I interrupt the conversation:

"I can take it the rest of the way," I tell Iron Man.

"You know?" Tony asked.

"It isn't the hardest thing to figure out," I say. "Particularly when they'll be aiming 'a world engine' at it while I'm nearby." It almost doesn't really matter how good the translation is, with a name like that.

"Ah."

"Yeah."

"So, we're all good?"

"Actually, there is one thing," Bruce said.

"What' that?"

"If you take me all the way there, you won't be able to get away in time - not fast enough. So," and I swing my legs, which flips me and Iron Man and - once he lets go of, I soar upwards and began to change over.

_You never let yourself feel gravity._

My loss.

And I seriously do *not* like the amused feel that soaks through me as I begin my descent towards the forcefield. Down. And down.

And down some more.

Our changeover is only starting when I strike - we strike - _we strike - I strike the clear armor. Feel missiles across my broadening back, the press and burn as they think they can hurt me. Candles on an elephant, leeches on a whale. Different fires add on, joining in, novelly cooperating...lasers now; only as bothersome as looking at the midday sun for a second, these leaving second-long physical afterimages. Mostly they ensure I keep on the clear shield, which I grip, palms and soles and fingers and toes working to gecko me to it as -_

_INTENSE! Interesting, the greater volume of the power of the sky ship of the alien; we blacked out and neither were in mind for a moment. Must remember that._

_Another alien ship is firing as well. Not *as* powerful as the first, but still measurable. Enjoyable._

_Sandwiched greater, under more force. E=Mc2 is one of my favorite laws. I grow, I strengthen, I Am._

_The cube thinks it can buttress against me with its shield and its skywards ray. Deluded shape._

_I am bigger. I am greater. I am mighty. The clear shield is paltry; and shrinking. Unless it is constant and my growth is swift. Ultimately immaterial. Nothing can defeat me._

I'm still here.

_Do you wish to do this? And he falls silent and resumes his waiting. Unsurprising._

_My mind stretches, growing with my body. What do your fearful 'allies' think they will do with us when this is complete? I Am curious as to what they believe would be effective. Nothing would, but that has never stilled their hands before._

_The shell of this shield collapses, popping like a soap bubble formed of meltingly hot plasma. I ride through that, letting that energy fuel my own crunching around the cube and the struts and wires the cube was powering. Time is immaterial. There is only the certainty that I shall emerge the victor._

_And with the cube's death into quantum dust, I am. No further laser aimed skyward, which collapses the wormhole overhead._

_The other attacks taper off to an end soon enough, and I make my departure._

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**  
 **LATER THAT DAY:**

Two groups had been called to the carpet. Each had one representative cleared to speak for them.

Lt. Farris looked out the corner of her eye at Agent Hill. _Why did SHIELD have to intervene? Did nothing but delay how long Kal El and the other Kryptonians took to defeat those Chitauri._

Agent Hill looked out the corner of her eye at Lt. Farris. _Idiots. Aliens are_ our _jurisdiction. By rights, that should have included the Kryptonians - and we would have pushed the point, had we not been so laser-focused on assembling the Avengers._

And now both organizations had been called to speak before the a closed chamber of the UN Security Council, in accordance with a modification of a suggestion made by SETI decades ago. Maria would have laughed if things weren't so serious.

 _No idea where the Kryptonians pulled back to...or when we'll see them again. But I know we'll be seeing at least one of them again,_ Lt. Farris was certain.

Agent Hill was more concerned about where the Avengers had hidden that super-Hulk which had emerged from the combined powers of the Tesseract's energies, the World Engine's blasts, paired eye-lasers, gouts of magic from Loki, and assorted missiles from Iron Man and Hawkeye.


	5. Red-Eyed Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> According to [Yourdictionary.com](http://www.yourdictionary.com/comradery#americanheritage), "The definition of comradery, commonly spelled camaraderie, is a caring and cheerful way that friends treat each other."

"You did good, brother," Thor told Loki, clapping him on the back. "You destroyed a great many Chitauri." The Kryptonians stood near the two of them, as did the Avengers, watching Banner do something Thor wondered if Mjolnir could equal.

Seconds before the Hulk crushed the Tesseract, "Like bringing war to Valland, Thor," Loki said; meaning _it was not difficult._ Valland itself was long-gone, extinguished or rubbled or something else long long ago, but it remained in the lexicon of the Nine Worlds.

And then space folded around the Hulk, glimmers of shifted light - redshifted and blueshifted in places - appeared around the Hulk, taking him into itself. _There are many ways to cross from one world to another,_ Thor knew. _Bifrost is that mode which inflicts the smallest cost upon the traveler. It would seem we are being visited by another mode,_ as he looked at where Banner's second self had been.

"You recognize what that was?" Faora asked, while General Zod placed the carrier ship someplace secure - a place safe where all of Krypton's unborn (save for those within Kal El) could be secreted for now.

"I believe so," Thor said. _How did she know I did? My expression did not betray me. Or was it like Loki's way of asking on a hunch, and my answer confirming it?_

"What was it?" Captain Rogers asked.

"Ratatosk."

"A squirrel?" _Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I read the wrong things when I was trying to find some sort of reasoning to Schmidt's plans - Dr. Erskine had said he believed the myths were science, after all. So I started there...in my free time._

"Squirrel?" Faora asked.

"You do-" one of the Avengers began to ask, brought to silence by all of them being swallowed in one broad motion, and from there to -

_**It made the eyes water. It made the ears ring. It made the stomach queasy. It made the tongue taste sweets. It made the nose wish to fold shut like a seal's or an elf's. It made the palms of hands and soles of feet itch.** _

\- where they were disgorged, vomited up by "Ratatosk, as I suspected," Thor said, looking up at the giant beast.

"Can we just catch a cab when it's time to go home again?" Stark asked as he checked his joints for nonexistent rust.

"I have had worse journeys, Stark," Thor said.

"Lucky you."

"It's not all there," Clark said.

"People've said that about me too," Tony said, then looked where the formerly-flying man was looking - at the squirrel - and his readouts agreed. "Huh. Quantum or something. Going to save that inquiry for when I don't feel like throwing up on its fur in retaliation."

"Where is this?" Faora asked, on her feet alongside her fellows, looking at the squirrel behind them, and the five aliens arrayed in front of them.

"This is a neutral setting. I am Odin," he said, the middle one of the five.

"Father," Thor said, kneeling. "These are -"

"There are changes in order," Odin said, holding up one hand; everyone thought he was calling for silence, until the Hammer Mjolnir flew from Thor to Odin's hand. "Thor, my son. You fit well among this new war-band, these Avengers. But such comraderie makes you unsuited to inheriting my throne. One day, you might become advisor or counselor to the king, but the throne will not be for you."

Lowering his head, Thor said "I understand."

"Take Mjolnir with you, as it will be useful in both your roles. And take a knee to your brother, the next king of Asgard."

"Is that so?" Loki asked, rightly more than skeptical.

"Wow, ungrateful much?" Stark asked him sotto voice. To Odin, "Uh, your boy here - Loki's yours, right? - I don't know if you noticed, but he just brought an army to my world."

"It was not his army," Mirmir said.

"That matters?"

_It is a factor in judgement, certainly._

"Always," said Hel to Stark, her speaking with the voice of one who knew from bitter experience.

"You have my thanks for your destroying the staff, Faora-Ul," Odin said to her, and bowed slightly to her.

Thor blinked in shock, having never actually seen his father tip his head that much to anyone - _simply part of being Allfather._

"I was trained to disarm my opponents," Faora said, not seeing why she was being thanked for complying with drill instructions.

"You would have _me_ sit upon the throne of Asgard?" Loki asked Odin, leaving unspoken the 'again.'

"I would," Odin said. "When we spoke last, of my plans - I had thought it could not be realized within your generation, and would have to come to fruition in the time of your children or your grandchildren. But then your actions forged this alliance of worlds - Midgard and Valland and Asgard - and the Allmother never mentioned that it would indeed be accomplished by you as I had hoped."

"Mother can see the future," Thor whispered to his friends.

"As complimentary as that is," Loki said to Odin, "you omitted addressing the most important _issue._ "

"The young are always in a rush," Nal said. Ullr bristled at that.

Odin said, "No, I did not omit it, Loki, born son of Hymir. Loki, foster son of Odin. Loki, heir of Buri. Long had I thought that you would forge ties between the Realms, repairing the damage done in my generation and by earlier generations; that it would be your children who inherit the throne from Thor." _I spoke only one lie -_ all _Jotuns are born very small. None question the loyalties of giant Heimdall because he has never left his post for longer than I have been alive; you would not have enjoyed that position of safety, even as my son. Thus you could not walk Asgard the size of Heimdall and Nal._

Loki said nothing, simply absorbed that information. "And the - occurrence upon the Kryptonians' ship?" Loki asked. "No doubt you were witness to that as well."

"Valland strikes down all who are not accustomed to it. Yes it bears similarities to the air of Jotunheim, but denser and harsher for any lungs."

"Question," Clint said.

"Yes?" Odin asked.

"What's a valland? And who are the five of you?"

With a grandfatherly smile, "Introductions are in order," Odin decreed. "I am Odin. Called Allfather, son of Bor, heir to Buri. Lord of Asgard and king of the Nine Realms. To my left is Nal. Called Inventor. Newly-enthroned lord of Jotunheim. To Nal's left is Hel. Called Governor. Governor-lord of Niflheim."

Clark gave polite nods to the three of them, but his eyes kept coming back to the gigantic head to Odin's right... _Primitive tribes do all sorts of things with decapitated skulls - do I want to know what these guys do with them?_

Odin said, "To my right is Mirmir. Called Wise. Representative of history and continuity. To his right is Ullr. Called Cunning. Lord of Vanaheim," _despite the fact that he wants my throne as well,_ Odin knew.

"We welcome back, you the descendants of the bygone trials," Mirmir said to those who had defeated the Chitauri.

"Trials?" Nathan asked.

"Before the time of Buri, and even before the time of Forseti, there had been attempts to fuse the greatest advantages of Asgardian and Jotun into a single species."

Loki remembered what she had told him on the craft: 'we evolved from gods.'

"It succeeded," Faora said.

"No, it did not. I was there," Mirmir said. "We learned that no species, like no civilization, can have only advantages. The crippled creatures resulting from the trials, we permitted them to retire to the Tenth Realm and gave them autonomy to continue on without our oversight. We called it Valland. You call that realm by the name of Krypton."

"...which is gone now," Clark said.

"Nal?" Thor asked. "Were you not a lord in Niflheim?" he asked, positive he was remembering his history lessons correctly.

"I was," Nal replied. "I was transferred and elevated so as to lead the reconstruction of Jotunheim. Anything damaged or destroyed can be built back."

"Could you rebuild Krypton?" Clark asked, not sure which of them to direct his question to.

"It could be done," Odin said. "But would you want it?"

Clark wasn't sure if the question was being asked of him personally, or of all those present of Kryptonian heritage.

"What would be the cost demanded of us in return?" asked the skinny Kryptonian who had fought Kal El with cars and trains.

"That depends upon who pieces your world back together," Odin said. "Each would ask for something different than the others would."

"What, you guys want kickbacks?" Stark asked, trying not to laugh.

"That's not what he said," Natasha said.

"I will pay," Loki said.

"Brother?" Thor asked.

"I was party to two destructions - both incomplete, one under duress. Would this not be a good step to displaying both my return to civilization and my good intents?"

Thor nodded, as did Nal and Odin.

Tony had done enough business around the world to know what Loki was doing: _Paying the cost personally, so the Kryptonians owe him and owe him big time. What's the going rate for a planet?_ "Kudos helps too," Stark said to Loki.

"That is a perk," Loki agreed.

"But not the aim," Ullr agreed.

"Why bring all of us here?" Clint asked. "If you just wanted to talk to Thor, Loki, and," looking at Superman and the other Kryptonians.

"We recognize your deeds," Odin said.

"Thanks?" Natasha asked.

"In recognition, your team has open passage through our Realms," Nal said.

'You're welcome," Ullr said.

"So...we can build a vacation home up here?" Tony asked. "Maybe learn how your stuff works?"

Ullr grinned.

"What?"

"You live too short a span to educate you in any of our technologies," Nal said.

"I tried once, friend Stark," Thor said.

Loki nodded, remembering how _that_ incident had ended.

"We've gotten better," Stark said firmly.

"You may certainly try," Odin said tolerantly.

 _But we still have to sit at the kids' table?_ thought more than one Avenger.

"And what will become of us now?" Faora asked.

Nal said, "For now, any who wish to exist on Jotunheim or the other Realms, may do so. The others shall be returned to Midgard until construction of Valland is complete."

"And our big green friend?" Captain America asked.

Odin smiled. "When he is willing to talk, he too will be given the choice." _We spoke with him briefly when he first arrived. You all underestimate him._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Modern English:  
>  _kudos_ = ["credit or praise for an achievement; glory; fame"](http://www.yourdictionary.com/kudos).  
>  Classical Greek:  
>  _kleos_ = heroic fame.  
>  _kudos_ = standing in the eyes of humanity. {'we get a real sense of her _kudos_ '}


End file.
